The Gardener's Table: A Guide to Natural Vegetable Growing and Cooking

Author:

Richard Merrill and Joe Ortiz

Publisher:

Berkeley, Calif.: Ten Speed Press

Publication Date:

2000

ISBN:

0-898-15876-1

paper, 468 p., $24.95.

Those who have long wished for a thorough one-volume guide to organic growing and fine cooking have their prayers answered with this book. The authors, one a grower and the other a chef, have produced a treasury of knowledge gained from their own experiences and those of dozens of eminent denizens of the food world. Their excellent treatments of every subject, from soils, plant physiology, growing, harvesting, diseases and pests to cooking and serving, will recreate for all readers the delight of authorities such as Rosalind Creasy (who wrote the foreword) and Renée Shepherd (whose praise adorns this indispensable book).

The authors' information is extensive and authoritative, contained in a handsome, usable volume beyond which few users will need to stray. Intensive readers of seed catalogs may find some inaccurate and out-of-date listings, a small demerit compared to this compendium's masterly treatment of many subjects. There are few gardeners and growers who would not benefit from a complete study of this brand-new classic.